Welcome to Data Security Decoded. Join host Caleb Tolin in conversation with Morgan Adamski who leads Cyber, Data, and Tech Risk at PwC and is a former US national security leader who spent 16 years tracking nation-state threats inside the US government. Coming out of a career spent inside secure facilities without windows or phones and working to address China’s prepositioning in US critical infrastructure, Morgan shares a direct view of how geopolitics is now shaping cyber risk decisions in boardrooms.

What You'll Learn:

Why only 24% invest in proactive defense, even while 60% call cyber a top priority

How AI agents are cutting breach timelines to under 80 days

Why cyber insurance is now a hygiene scorecard, not just financial protection

The real reason leaders lack confidence in resilience

Where legacy systems and supply chain dependencies expose blind spots

How public–private collaboration changed the response to China’s infrastructure campaign

What CISOs must confront now to avoid being blindsided by the next crisis

The conversation gives security leaders and decision-makers a clear view of where current strategies fall short and the choices required to build real resilience before the next crisis forces it.

Episode Highlights:

[03:43] Why China prepositions inside US critical infrastructure to trigger disruption and panic in a crisis

[04:20] Collective defense in action: how victims and industry exposed the campaign

[09:27] The truth behind cyber budgets: only 24% invest in proactive defense

[11:57] How AI agents are shortening breach lifecycles to under 80 days

[13:07] Why cyber insurance is now a security scorecard, not a safety net

Episode Resources

Caleb Tolin on LinkedIn

Morgan Adamski on LinkedIn

PwC’s 2026 Global Digital Trust Insights report